grain

Pluralgrains (some meanings)

Formsgrains, graining, grained

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Wheat, rice, corn, barley, and similar crops, or their harvested seeds used for food; also seeds used like them, such as quinoa.

   Drought reduced the grain available for both bread and animal feed.

   Ships waited at the port to load grain bound for overseas markets.

   UsageFor the crop in bulk, use no a: tons of grain; one seed is a grain of wheat.

   Similarcereal, corn

2. 2
   lines in woodnoununcountable

   The pattern of lines running through a material such as wood, showing its texture and direction.

   The carpenter planed the plank in the direction of the grain.

   Polished granite revealed a subtle grain beneath the surface.

   UsageUsually along, with or against the grain; go against the grain also means to go against someone's nature.

   Similartexture, pattern, fiber

3. 3
   tiny piecenouncountable

   An individual minute particle of a substance, such as sand, salt, or pollen.

   A grain of pollen lodged in the flower's narrow throat.

   Fine grains of dust settled across every shelf in the attic.

   UsageUsually a grain of sand, salt or dust. Figuratively, a grain of truth, or take something with a grain of salt.

   Similarparticle, speck, granule, mote

4. 4
   single cereal seednouncountable

   An individual seed of a grass food crop such as wheat, rice, or barley.

   He examined each grain of barley for signs of mold.

   A handful of wheat holds several hundred separate grains.

   UsageSay a grain of rice or grains of wheat; for the crop in bulk, just grain.

   Similarkernel, seed

   Note

   The count noun picks out a single seed. That image lies behind the word's other small things, from a grain of sand to the tiny units of weight once reckoned by a seed's heft. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The small-particle sense reflects an analogy with a seed, as illustrated by the corresponding French sense. fr.wiktionary.org
   • The grain as a unit of weight was historically based on a seed's weight. pryor.mathcs.wilkes.edu
5. 5
   unit of weightnouncountable or uncountable

   A small unit of mass equal to 1/7000 of an avoirdupois pound, standardized as exactly 64.79891 milligrams.

   The recipe for the ointment called for two grains of the powdered root.

   He trimmed the bullet's weight by a single grain to improve accuracy.

   Note

   One grain sits beneath both of England's pound systems. The troy pound holds 5,760 of them and the avoirdupois pound 7,000, so the troy grain and the avoirdupois grain are one and the same.

6. 6
   film texturenouncountable or uncountable

   The visible speckled texture in developed photographic film, caused by tiny particles of silver or clouds of dye.

   Pushing the film two stops in development brought out coarse grain.

   The portrait's soft grain lent it a warm, nostalgic quality.

   Note

   A photographer's grain is the speckle of the whole image, not any one particle in it, so the word usually works as a mass noun. Faster, more sensitive films give coarser grain, and pushing film in development exaggerates it. Grainy and fine-grained describe the result, and grain can be a flaw to avoid or an effect chosen for mood. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Photographic grain is an optical texture rather than an individual particle. en.wikipedia.org
   • Greater film sensitivity is associated with coarser grain. en.wikipedia.org
   • Push processing increases visible grain. kodak.com
   • Grain can be chosen for artistic effect. en.wikipedia.org
7. 7
   leather surfacenouncountable or uncountable

   The hair side of a piece of leather, or the pattern of markings visible on that side.

   Tanners prize a tight, even grain when choosing hides for fine shoes.

   You can read the grain of the leather to judge where the hide came from.

   Note

   Tanners call the side that once carried hair the grain, and it is the side to protect. The Art of Tanning and of Currying Leather (1773) warns that the grain can be damaged during the taking off of the hair. The word covers both that surface and the pattern on it, and tanners also use to grain for stripping the hair. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The book warns that removing hair can damage the leather's grain. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   crystal areanouncountable or uncountable

   A region within a solid material where the crystal structure shares a single, uniform orientation.

   Etching the polished sample revealed the boundary between one grain and the next.

   Cold working distorts the metal's grains and changes its properties.

   Similarcrystallite, crystal

   Note

   Materials scientists picture a solid metal as a mosaic of crystals. Each grain has its own lattice orientation and meets its neighbors at grain boundaries. Grain size strongly affects strength, so processes such as cold working are described by what they do to the grains. None of this concerns the grain of wood: it is crystal structure, not fiber direction. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • A typical solid metal consists of many crystals called grains. warwick.ac.uk
   • Grains have their own lattice orientations and meet at grain boundaries. mpie.de
   • Grain size strongly affects metal strength. archives.standards.doxcelerate.com
   • Cold working can be described through its effects on grains. archive.nptel.ac.in
   • Wood grain concerns fiber arrangement, whereas the metal grains described here concern crystals. lsuagcenter.com

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